You might glibly stick a maple leaf on your man-purse as you trudge through Europe sitting at various sidewalk Starbucks cafes discussing those aweful Americans with Frenchmen and Belgians who know everything, but you might want to reconsider that pseudo-patriotic move if you travel south.
The closer we get, the farther apart we are
Report warns of rising tide of U.S. ‘anti-Canadianism’
Canada and the United States are at their most acrimonious point in recent history, despite being more reliant on each other than ever, an assembly of 70 high-profile citizens of the two countries warns.
“It is by now evident that Canada is losing influence in Washington,” says the report, the product of the American Assembly, a series of meetings last month in New York.
“At the same time that Canada has lost clout in Washington, U.S. leadership’s judgment post-9/11 has been met with skepticism and even hostility by Canadians.”
The report notes the relationship has been strained at other times over the past century, but “we are witnessing something new: the emergence on the right of a troubling anti-Canadianism … that regularly contrasts American values with those of a soft and self-indulgent Canada.”
“This misguided impulse pales beside the disturbing and persistent currents of anti-Americanism in Canada,” the study says.
The group included Allan Gotlieb, Canada’s former ambassador to the U.S.; James Blanchard, former U.S. ambassador to Canada; Quebec Premier Jean Charest; former prime minister Joe Clark; and leaders from business, academia, labour and the media.
One of the assembly’s major findings was that Canada should participate in ballistic missile defence. Although the report was released yesterday, that conclusion has been overtaken by the Liberal government’s decision last week to not participate.
Douglas Goold, president and chief executive of the Canadian Institute for International Affairs, a think-tank that co-sponsored the assembly, said yesterday that among the 70 attendees an “overwhelming majority thought it was in the best interests of both countries for Canada to go ahead [with ballistic missile defence], and if they were all sitting in the room today they would be extremely disappointed with the decision Paul Martin took last week.”
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